Melanie McFarland has her finger on the pulse of the television remote. The networks, the premium channels, the great shows you love and the asinine shows the rest of America watches … she knows what's on. If you have a question, e-mail her at tvgal@seattlepi.com.

“The Closer” delivers a Christmas package, “Saving Grace” returns.

In the midst of all the red-and-green cheer, “The Closer’s” two hour special, airing tonight at 8 on TNT, gifts us with a welcome, enjoyable jolt of the good-old-fashioned police procedural business, with Brenda Leigh nailing the bad guys to the wall in her unique and wonderful way.

Then again, this being the holiday and all, a little Christmasy treacle creeps in at points. There is carol singing. There is bourbon drinking and, yes, there are a few moments in which family cuteness and seasonal lessons dominate the plot.

Fortunately these factors don’t smother the story into submission; rather, they lend a new dynamic to the relationships between Brenda Leigh Johnson (Kyra Sedgwick) and her genteel but domineering mother, Willie Rae (Frances Sternhagen), and father, Clay (Barry Corbin). Yup, if it’s a holiday and there are sweets to be had, it’s a safe bet that Momma and Daddy will be around.

From Momma Johnson’s first appearance it became clear where Brenda Leigh perfected that tender “please and thank you” mask hiding the vicious interrogator within. But we also could see that there was a lot Brenda would rather her mother never found out about her. From the get-go she was afraid of what Momma would think if she knew her baby was living in sin with her FBI agent fiance Fritz Howard (Jon Tenney), a long-suffering man who wears a perpetual grin as Brenda obsesses herself into a knot.

Momma’s main worry, however, was that Brenda dedicated too much of her life to her job and not enough to nurturing her family. And this comes to a head when Brenda, doggedly pursuing a suspect, flies with Fritzy to Atlanta and stays with her parents under the guise of surprising them with a visit for the holidays.

A few twists later, Brenda and Fritzy are taking a cross-country road trip in an RV with her parents and two detectives on her team. Plans go awry, and in the process, Brenda reveals a side to her parents she’d rather not have them know about: The part of her job in which she tells terrible lies to close a case.

For a “Closer” addict, this episode might as well have sugar angels fluttering down from cotton candy clouds. But even occasional viewers may want to make time for this one, especially given the dwindling number of original episodes airing elsewhere on TV due to the writers’ strike. You’ll get no holiday ending here, but something better — a resolution in line with “The Closer’s” usual tone that, nevertheless, leaves you feeling the warm satisfaction that accompanies the best episodes of television.

Following “The Closer” special is the return of “Saving Grace,” and Holly Hunter’s reckless Oklahoma City cop with an angel on her shoulder, Grace Hanadarko, at 10 p.m.

“Grace” is an example of a series that knows how to make the most of its selling point — that would be its procedural half — as its dark heroine relentlessly charges into each case with a maniacal vigor.

In tonight’s episode Grace hunts down the person responsible for a fatal bus accident that kills three children and has her investigation interrupted by a destructive tornado. Grace is a woman who crusades through her work as if each wrong she makes right again repairs one small corner of her shattered soul and that makes her a rather unforgiving person — an idea this act of God puts to the test.

Selling the spiritual side of “Grace” is far trickier than piecing together each week’s case, and the writers don’t seem to have that side mapped out quite yet.

One decision they got right, besides tapping Hunter to carry the show, is in casing Leon Rippy as Earl, a stubbly, snaggle-toothed angel.

Through Rippy’s crusty, unapologetically sensual view of the universe, watching Grace consider spirituality’s role in our lives becomes more fascinating with each of these new episodes.

For example, tonight one of his charges, a death row convict named Leon (Bokeem Woodbine), makes a drastic decision about his faith that directly affects his relationship with Earl — if, indeed, he can continue to have one.

In most respects, when it comes to matters of soul searching, “Saving Grace” suffers from that first-season weakness of taking too much time to get us to a specific destination. We need to get an understanding of how and why all these various souls are connected through Earl — although a significant twist coming up in three more episodes might be an indication that we’re heading somewhere.

To its credit, heartfelt performances from Hunter, Kenneth Johnson and Laura San Giacomo are more than enough to keep you watching as this worthwhile drama finds its way.